Kentucky Derby 2024: Yearling bargains are now contenders

West Saratoga fetched a meager $11,000 when he was one of the last horses sold at Keeneland’s September yearling sale. May foal Honor Marie and Society Man, both hurt by lack of size, brought $40,000 and $85,000 at the same sale.

Those prices do not suggest that any of the three would go on to do something special. In each case, they far outran the values placed on them. And they ran their way into the 150th Kentucky Derby.

“I think that’s part of what makes our game so romantic. It can happen to anybody if you take a bit of a chance,” said Conor Foley of Oracle Bloodstock, the top bidder for Society Man.

Harry Veruchi, who landed West Saratoga, was growing impatient with trainer Larry Demeritte as he rejected one prospect after another, leaving only a handful of yearlings still available.

“Larry, we need to buy something,” he told him.

Demeritte, who has a history of spotting bargains, stood his ground. “Harry, I’m not going to buy something just to buy something. It has to be the right horse.”

Shortly after that, Veruchi received a phone call from an excited Demeritte. He wished to bid on hip 4146, convinced that he was the “right horse.” The son of 2016 Preakness winner Exaggerator lacked size but he passed the eye test with a good shoulder and good hip. Above all, nothing rattled him during the hustle and bustle of the sale.

Veruchi, who once owned a used car dealership in Denver with his brother, likes to shop with Demeritte in the $5,000 to $25,000 range for yearlings. He authorized a top bid of $20,000 and was delighted to spend a little more than half of that.

“I was hoping for an allowance horse and, if he was good enough to win a stakes race on a smaller scale, yeah, we’d probably try that,” Veruchi said.

West Saratoga became the first horse to earn Derby qualifying points when he captured the Sept. 16 Iroquois (G3) at Churchill Downs, providing Veruchi with his first graded-stakes win. He locked up a Derby berth when he placed second in the March 23 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) on Turfway Park’s Tapeta surface, hiking his lifetime earnings to $460,140.

Honor Marie, runner-up to Catching Freedom in the March 23 Louisiana Derby (G2), will actually celebrate his birthday on Derby Day. While that may be a nice touch for onlookers, his standing as a May foal undoubtedly diminished his worth. But not in the eyes of Kyle Zorn of Legion Bloodstock. He saw nothing but value.

“Sometimes these May foals sneak in there because they haven’t done the physical change that people are looking for,” said Zorn.

He also was not discouraged by the pedigree, even though Honor Code had shown little as a sire to that point. The dam, Dame Marie, had done well on turf and he thought they would be sending a nice turf horse to trainer Whit Beckman.

“Everybody is looking at the same horses on pedigree, so we try to find some diamonds in the rough,” Zorn said. “He was a no-brainer. He had the walk. He looked like a horse that would mature.”

He and the other partners in Legion Bloodstock could not have been more correct. Honor Marie boast a 5: 2-2-0 record with earnings of $526,175 for majority owners Kerry and Alan Ribble. They bought out their initial partners and later added Michael Eiserman, Earl Silver and David and Kenneth Fishbein.

Then there is Society Man. He was not on the Derby radar until the April 6 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct. Sent off at 106-1 in the Wood in his first start after breaking his maiden, he made trainer Danny Gargan’s decision to run him look like a stroke of genius when he rallied to snag second to Resilience.

Conor Foley of Oracle Bloodstock, bidding on behalf of West Paces Racing, said he was prepared to offer as much as $300,000 for the son of Good Magic. He was “shocked” when the hammer fell at $85,000.

“He was not a big horse but incredibly athletic,” Foley said. “I bought him with the hope that he would keep that athleticism and still grow some. And I think he did that.”

It appears to have helped the cause that Society Man underwent what Foley described as “the ultimate equipment change.” He made dramatic progress after he was gelded.